The journey to the Elven Capital felt like spring unpacking its colors; everyone leaned forward like flowers toward sun.

It was reunion after long parting and a breath snatched after a storm; Yue Liuyi let her heart float like a leaf, sinking with the elves into the still lake of peace.

Elves adore festival nights; as soon as war quieted, lantern-bright stalls bloomed along both sides of the road like twin constellations, and unlike Lin Yun Academy’s fairs, this one was co-hosted by the royal house and the Elven Parliament, a tide of wonders laid out like dew on grass.

“Yue, these are chocolate leaves—finally, we can eat them!”

“Huh? From back then…?”

“Yep~”

Dixue bought a bag of chocolate leaves, the wrappers crinkling like tiny wings, and placed them in front of Yue Liuyi.

Yue stared at the dark leaf, a petal of night, and remembered strolling a fair with LittleSnow at Lin Yun Academy—back then she was a body pillow, a soft prop like a cloud, so she never got to taste it.

Now the knot in her chest loosened like a ribbon slipping free.

First bite: chocolate swirled with sugar-soft warmth, not the bark-bitter of dark nor the syrupy stick of candy, but a gentle silk that melted like moonlight.

“Mm… it’s so good…”

“Hehe, head pats~”

Softness drifted down onto her crown like a feather; Yue Liuyi, a little lost and a little shy, realized Dixue was kneading her hair, fingers combing like breeze through reeds.

“Ugh…”

She sighed like a small wave; LittleSnow looks reliable as a steady pine, yet sometimes she plays like a sparrow child.

Maybe it’s not just LittleSnow; even Maria has that mischief flickering like a candle. Yue looked aside—amid the elf-crowd flowing like a river, a lady in a Victorian dress stood out like a swan—she and Zero Wei were absorbed in a street game.

The game came from human ring toss, a circle thrown like a pebble into a pond; yet elves are deft as spiders and keen as archers, so the old game held no weight, like a feather on stone.

Tonight’s ring toss had changed: the arena was a flowerfield, petals open like cups, and winged little sprites danced on blossoms like fireflies; players had to loop their “rings”—really ribbons—onto those flickering bodies to win prizes.

That stumped human Maria and catfolk “girl” Zero Wei; no matter how they cast, the sprites slipped aside like minnows before the net.

“No, again!”

“You’re human guests, right? We can lower the difficulty a little…”

“No need. Here’s coin—thirty more rings!”

“Lady Maria, I’ll support you too!”

Maria and Zero Wei lit up like twin torches, hurling ribbon after ribbon, a vow like iron: they wouldn’t stop till a ring kissed a sprite.

Maybe it’s race-born grace; no matter the throw, no loop landed, the ribbons falling like spent petals.

Yue Liuyi smiled, her thoughts drifting like mist; inside everyone lives a child-voice, the softest part, often armoring itself like a turtle shell when life grinds or the world won’t understand.

If one day everyone could live openly, like birds with clear skies, how bright it would be.

But first…

Her gaze brushed Ailuna, the pink-haired girl at the flowerfield’s edge, cheering with eyes like spring water.

“Go! Just a little more!”

To Ailuna, Maria was nearly a stranger met at dawn, yet her cheer rose like sunlight on her own path, no falseness, no frost.

Zero Wei, as if buoyed by that warmth, finally looped one; the ribbon cinched like a ring of rain.

“Wow, I caught a sprite!!”

“Congratulations! Congratulations!”

(The World Tree Maiden is a hearth-fire, urging many lives onward like a mother bird, her care spilling from the heart like honey.)

Yue thought so, yet she felt ordinary as clay; she couldn’t do that—if she disliked someone, the dislike rose like a thorn from the root.

She wants the world gentler, faces bright with kind smiles; but her care is chosen like selective sun, and for those with rotted hearts, Yue isn’t eager to serve.

“Yue?”

“Eek!? LittleSnow…?”

Yue came back like a wave returning to shore and found her palm held by Dixue, those green eyes watching her like clear pools.

“Just now, your eyes… mm, still so clear, like a spring. I brought rings—do you want to play with everyone?”

“Huh?”

Only now did Yue notice the armful of ribbon-rings like coiled vines; across the flowerfield, not only Maria, but San Hua Zhi, Ailuna, and Breeze had joined the game.

“Ugh! I can’t hit either!”

“Breeze… won’t admit defeat…”

Ailuna and Breeze were tossing like leaves in wind—both wildly off; it seems the World Tree Maiden’s kin have nerves for prayer, not sport.

“Mm… it looks fun, but LittleSnow, aren’t you joining?”

“Of course I am~ just in another match. Tisinate didn’t accept losing at the World Tree and invited me to an archery contest.”

Yue followed Dixue’s line of sight; there, Tisinate, Qiu Baimo, and even Qiu Ruyi stood like three cedars, longbows drawn, arrows nocked like moon slivers.

The archery game came from humans’ balloon-shooting stalls; hit one, claim a prize, like plucking fruit. But still balloons are too static, like stones on a path, so tonight the targets were… fruit.

Rows of fruit launchers, handled by tiny sprites, shot pears and grapes like comets, big and small and gleaming.

Competitors had to pierce moving fruit and control strength so the fruit burst like a ripe star, with juice arcing clean into a glass at the range’s end; the fuller the cup, the richer the reward, but a single drop outside was waste, failure, a bruise on the game.

“This is, like, the pro bracket!?”

Yue gaped at the masters’ show; Qiu Ruyi gave a casual draw like a breeze, and a just-launched grape burst with a pop, purple juice flowing like a ribbon, not a drop lost, slipping perfectly into the glass.

“This is basic; without skill like this, you can’t guard the World Tree Maiden.”

Speaking that title like a bell, Dixue smiled at Yue Liuyi, fingers itching like a cat’s paw to pat.

“Protect…? Wait, LittleSnow—did you recognize me as the World Tree Maiden from the start and come to protect me?”

“Wow—no!!! Don’t misunderstand! I didn’t approach you because you’re the World Tree Maiden!”

Yue wasn’t blaming, yet the silver-haired girl waved fast, flustered like a sparrow: “At first, I thought you were just an ordinary girl—then I got confused, and only in the Elven Forest did I confirm, okay?”

“Huh? In the Elven Forest?”

“Mm! Actually… the fruit I fed you back then wasn’t Breeze’s fruit—it was… your own fruit.”

“H-Huh…?”

Yue jumped like a rabbit; the idea she could bear fruit sprouted thorny thoughts, the mind tangling like vines.

The key: where did the fruit come from…

(Ugh…)

Seeing Yue’s face blush like maple leaves, Dixue blinked, innocent as a doe: “Is something off? When crisis comes, the World Tree Maiden usually sprouts a special plant from the soil to shield herself—perfectly normal.”

“Huh? So the fruit… fell from that plant?”

“Of course—if not from the plant, from where would it—huh?”

Realization dawned like sunrise; Dixue blushed too, pink flooding like dusk.

“Ugh! Yue, you—th-this isn’t like having a bab— it’s different!!!!”

“Wow, LittleSnow, don’t say it out loud!!”

…

And so, under girls’ laughter fluttering like paper cranes, the festival in the Elven Capital came to a gentle close.

Their smiles were starlight under the night sky, bright and countless like a jeweled river.

…

End of Volume Two